User:Triple J/Sandbox/Cole Turner

Cole Turner is a fictional character on the WB television series Charmed. He was portrayed by series regular Julian McMahon between 2000 and 2003, appearing in the third, fourth, and fifth seasons. McMahon later returned for a guest appearance in 2005 for the show's seventh season, within its 150th episode.

The character of Cole is an adversary-turned-ally of the Halliwell sisters, three good witches, the prophesied "Charmed Ones", who must battle the forces of evil. Introduced in the third season, he is prominent love interest for the original youngest sister, Phoebe Halliwell. Like the show's main characters, Cole also possessed a number of magical abilities; his most commonly used were the power to teleport and the power to throw projective energy balls which could stun or kill.

Television
Cole Turner makes his first appearance in the third season (2000-1) première episode, "The Honeymoon's Over". Charmed Ones Phoebe (Milano) and Prue (Shannen Doherty) run into Assistant District Attorney Cole Turner at the site where they killed a demon, and cover their tracks. Over the course of the episode, it becomes apparent to the audience that Cole is himself a very powerful demon, pursuing Phoebe romantically and deceiving the sisters as to his true nature in order to finally kill them. In "Power Outage", Cole's superiors, the demonic Triad, learn that he may have developed genuine romantic feelings for Phoebe; Cole responds by killing them, forcing him into hiding. Meanwhile, the sisters acquire a target in the red-and-black-skinned demon Belthazor (Michael Bailey Smith); in "Sleuthing with the Enemy", the Charmed Ones discovers Cole and Belthazor are one and the same, but when Cole convinces Phoebe that he, being half human, truly loves her, she fakes his death so that her sisters Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Prue will not hunt for him. When Cole re-emerges, causing a rift between Phoebe and her sisters, he attempts to re-ingratiate himself his demonic peers, the Brotherhood of the Thorn as part the sisters' double agent. When Prue and Piper are both killed following a successful mission by the Source's assassin Shax (Michael Bailey Smith) in the season finale "All Hell Breaks Loose", Cole's ingratiation with allows him to beg the Source (again, Michael Bailey Smith) to turn back time and prevent the exposure of magic; the Source agrees on the condition that Phoebe remain in the underworld under his command, though he secretly orders her to be killed. Phoebe is able to escape, however, due to the presence of Leo Wyatt (Brian Krause), her "whitelighter" (a witch's guardian angel).

Cole does what he can to assist Phoebe and Piper from Shax's attack after Prue died from Shax's attack in the previous episode. Piper and Phoebe regain their full abilities, becoming Charmed Ones once again when they discover their younger half-sister, Paige (McGowan), with whom they destroy Shax. In "Black as Cole", a power-stripping one causes Cole to lose both his Belthazor form and demonic abilities, becoming wholly human. After the Charmed Ones successfully kill the Source (Peter Woodward) in "Charmed and Dangerous", the Source's essence fills the space left by Cole's vanquished demon half, making Cole the new Source; as the Source, he is guided by the Seer (Debbi Morgan), a manipulative demoness who has served multiple Sources. Paige continually suspects him of being evil. In "The Fifth Halliwheel", the Seer begins her plot to have Cole impregnate Phoebe, and in "Bite Me", Phoebe learns she is pregnant. On discovering that Cole is the Source, a pregnant Phoebe stands by his side to become the Queen of the Underworld, though she returns her sisters to help vanquish Cole in "Long Live the Queen". In "Womb Raider", the Seer uses a spell to take Cole's child from Phoebe, becoming the Source herself, but becomes overwhelmed by is powers and dies. Phoebe hears Cole's voice call to her on the wind, and in the season finale, "Witch Way Now?", she discovers Cole is able to linger in the Demonic Wasteland, where vanquished demons go, because of his human soul. Phoebe visits him there, insisting to him that he move on to his afterlife. After she leaves, he accidentally discovers he can acquire the powers of other demons vanquished there. He becomes powerful enough to kill the beast that consumes the essence of those vanquished there and, finally, to escape. Once back in the world, he saves the sisters' lives from a witch hunter.

In the season premiere, "A Witch's Tail", Cole returns more powerful than ever, and though he still loves Phoebe, she wants to move on from him and is frustrated by his attempts to win her back. In "Sympathy for the Demon", Cole is taunted by the spirit of the demon Barbas (Billy Drago) who convinces Cole to use a power-stripping potion and acquires Cole's powers, becoming corporeal. To stop the threat of Barbas or anyone else possessing Cole's powers, Paige strips Barbas of his powers and Cole takes them back; the sisters, however, fear that his powers will make him evil again. In "Sam, I Am", Cole misuses his abilities and incinerates two robbers; he is visited by two mysterious beings for the first time, the Avatars. Neither good or evil, the Avatars offer Cole the opportunity to join their ranks and enjoy their powers; he refuses. Instead, Cole tries to provoke the sisters to kill him by sending an assassin after them, knowing that they will be able to recover thanks to their recent contact with Paige's father, whitelighter Sam Wilder (Scott Jaeck). He is distraught to learn he cannot be killed, this discovery pushing him over the edge as he reverts to more malevolent means of winning Phoebe back, such as attempting to corrupt the power of the manor. In Charmed ' s 100th episode, "Centennial Charmed", Cole accepts the Avatars' offer and uses their power to change history so that Piper and Phoebe never met Paige. In the new reality, Cole is Belthazor again; he owns Halliwell Manor with Phoebe, but they are unhappy together. Paige, accidentally brought along to this world, is able to meet her sisters and restore their full abilities. The sisters finally kill Cole using the original potion to kill Belthazor.

Final Appearance
Cole makes his final appearance in the 150th episode "The Seven Year Witch", in season seven; Piper's disembodied spirit receives advice from Cole, who claims to be in limbo atoning for his sins. However, it is later revealed that Cole, watching over the sisters, orchestrated Piper's illness and sent Phoebe's short-lived boyfriend Drake (Billy Zane) to her, all so that Phoebe could learn to believe in love again.

Literature
As a supporting character of the series, Cole appears in a number of Charmed literature. These appearances are most prominent in the books which ran concurrently with Cole's starring seasons from the television series, such as Luck Be A Lady, written by Scott Ciencin, published on January 1, 2004 and taking place during the same timeline of the television series' fifth season. The novels follow no strict continuity with the series or each other, and are often considered to be non-canon. However, the television series producers have final approval of everything in the novels, which could indicate the literature fitting into the established canon of the series and the so-called "Charmed universe".

In 2010, Charmed gained an officially licensed continuation in the form of a comic book, which is often billed as Charmed Season 9. The series is published monthly by Zenescope Entertainment. In the comic series, after helping Piper escape from being trapped in a cosmic void, Cole is tasked by Penny and Patty Halliwell to locate the missing soul of Prue in exchange for helping him find peace in the afterlife.

Character analysis and influences
As a lawyer and a demon, one writer notes that Cole is part of the same "corporate" metaphor as the Wolfram & Hart firm in the television series Angel. Although the role did not gain McMahon big fame or laudable reviews, "Julian gained legions of fans due to his wide-ranging portrayal of Cole." For instance, in her erotic romance novels and novellas, writer Jennifer Dunne features a heroine "obsessed" with Julian McMahon's portrayal of Cole.

Death count
During the run of the series, Cole died a total of 3 times.